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Magnificent 2,000-year-old Roman helmet unveiled

A magnificent 2,000 year-old silver-gilt Roman helmet of outstanding quality and international importance is to be unveiled.

A joint press launch is being held by Leicestershire County Council, which acquired the find for display at Harborough Museum, and the British Museum, which carried out the conservation and reconstruction work.

The event will be held from 9am – 10.30am on Tuesday, January 10th at the British Museum.

Archaeologists who made the original discovery at Hallaton in Leicestershire, used to finding more glamorous gold and silver coins, joked they had found a fairly modern “rusty bucket”.

However, their discovery turned out to be a hugely significant archaeological find.

The “Hallaton Helmet” was found ten years ago by members of the Hallaton Fieldwork Group and professional archaeologists from University of Leicester Archaeological Services who were excavating the remains of a 2,000-year-old Iron Age shrine.

The site appears to be a major religious centre, having produced the largest number of Iron Age coins ever excavated in Britain and possible evidence of ritual feasting dating to the mid 1st Century AD. The finds from this site would later become known as the Hallaton Treasure.

It is the only Roman helmet found in Britain with the majority of the silver-gilt plating surviving, and one of only a handful ever discovered. It is also one of Britain’s earliest Roman helmets.

Thanks to Heritage Lottery funding, the Hallaton Helmet has now been restored at the British Museum and is ready to be unveiled.

David Sprason, Leicestershire County Council’s Cabinet Member for Adults and Communities, said: “The unveiling of this thrilling discovery is a tremendously exciting event. That we have reached this stage is thanks to the successful partnership between the County Council, world class experts at the British Museum, the dedicated archaeologists involved and our generous funding organisations.”

Marilyn Hockey, Head of Ceramics, Glass and Metals Conservation at the British Museum, said: “This was one of the most challenging and rewarding projects of my career. It has been a long job, and I have come to know this object intimately! But I have felt enormously privileged to have had the chance to work on such a unique and fascinating piece of our history. It’s wonderful to be able to coax something like this out of the soil and to allow it to show itself off again.”

The Hallaton Helmet will be displayed permanently at Harborough Museum, Market Harborough, Leicestershire from Saturday, January 28th 2012 alongside the other finds from the Hallaton Treasure.

Photo opportunityReporters and photographers are invited to the official unveiling of the historic Hallaton Roman helmet in the Hartwell Room, British Museum, London at 9am – 10.30am on Tuesday, January 10th.

More about the helmet...

When fragments of iron were taken back to the University of Leicester, during excavation in 2001, it was realised that they had the “ear” from a 2,000 year old Roman cavalry helmet. This distinctive iron object with silver plating was the ear guard of a once magnificent helmet.

The fragile helmet had to be lifted in a soil block for excavation and conservation in the Department of Conservation and Scientific Research at the British Museum. Over the next few years the finds from Hallaton were declared Treasure and were acquired by Leicestershire County Council with the help of grants from The Heritage Lottery Fund, The Art Fund, the Museums and Art Galleries Improvements Fund, the V&A Purchase Grant Fund, The Headley Trust, Renaissance East Midlands and local contributions from the Friends of Leicester and Leicestershire Museums, the Leicestershire Museums Archaeological Fieldwork Group, as well as private individuals. The Heritage Lottery Fund grant of £650,600 enabled the finds, including the helmet, to be conserved and displayed to the public in the specially designed Hallaton Treasure Gallery at Harborough Museum in Market Harborough, Leicestershire.

The task of removing the helmet from its soil block fell to Marilyn Hockey, Head of Ceramics, Glass and Metals Conservation at the British Museum. This group, based within the Department of Conservation and Scientific Research, has a strong focus on archaeological conservation, with experienced conservators working alongside science specialists.

The initial laboratory excavation, carried out as part of the BM’s duties under the Treasure Act, revealed a much more complex assemblage than had been expected, as the helmet had been buried with several hundred coins, the remains of a feast of suckling pig, and five extra cheekpieces (making seven in all). All of the metalwork was in a broken and fragile state, including the decorated silver surface, much of which had corroded away to powder; but under the microscope a very fine design and traces of gilding could be seen.

Once Leicestershire County Council had raised the funding, a three year collaboration with the BM began, during which Marilyn, later assisted by two colleagues, carried out a campaign of painstaking micro-excavation, stabilisation and reconstruction of the hundreds of fragments. This work is now complete and according to Marilyn and her colleagues, was one of the most challenging and rewarding projects they have worked on. This process, likened to a 3D jigsaw puzzle, has revealed the helmet to be constructed of sheet iron, once covered with beautifully crafted silver sheet decorated in places with gold leaf. It was probably made between AD 25-50 so is contemporary with the Roman invasion of Britain.

This was a top quality helmet and would have been specially commissioned by a high ranking officer. When new, it would have been a stunning sight, shining gold and silver and with images of Roman military victory proudly displayed on its surfaces. It is the only Roman helmet found in Britain with the majority of the silver-gilt plating surviving, and one of only a handful ever discovered.

The decoration is of the highest quality. The helmet’s bowl features a wreath, the symbol of a military victory and the scallop shaped browguard shows the striking bust of a woman flanked by lions and other animals. The cheekpieces depict a Roman emperor on horseback with the goddess Victory flying behind. Beneath his horse’s hooves is a cowering figure, possibly a native Briton.

What the native Britons who buried this helmet made of this image of Roman dominance we do not know. Did they identify with the defeated foe or the triumphant horseman? One persuasive theory is that it was actually owned by an important local man who had served in the Roman cavalry prior to or during the Roman conquest of Britain that began in AD 43. He may have chosen to bury his highly prized helmet at his local shrine as a gift to the gods on his return to the East Midlands. Alternatively, it is possible that the helmet was a diplomatic gift, perhaps suggesting that the local population were pro-Roman. Some believe that the helmet was not a gift but a spoil of war. It may have been taken during a raid on a Roman camp or even during a battle.

The Hallaton Helmet is one of the earliest Roman helmets found in Britain and is believed to have been buried in the years around the Roman Emperor Claudius’ invasion of Britain in AD 43. The circumstances of its burial are a mystery and how this extremely high status Roman object came into the possession of the local native British tribe is intriguing. The Hallaton Helmet has been baffling experts in Roman archaeology and history since it was discovered and may continue to do so for some time to come.

Background notes

For further details about the Treasure Project and Harborough Museum, see the following background details.

Harborough Museum is operated in partnership by Leicestershire County Council, Harborough District Council and the Market Harborough Historical Society.

The Southeast Leicestershire Treasure is the archive of material produced by several stages of archaeological work undertaken by local community archaeologists and University of Leicester Archaeological Services. The site proved to be an internationally important ritual site dating mostly to the generations before and after the Roman Conquest of Britain in the 1st century AD.

The purpose of the project is to purchase, conserve, interpret and promote the Southeast Leicestershire Treasure. The cost of the project is £933,872 which includes purchasing the finds, conserving the finds, displays at Harborough Museum and at Hallaton Museum, two touring exhibitions, web based resources, workshops for schools and community groups, and events for the public.

The project is supported by grants from The Heritage Lottery Fund of £650,600, £100,000 from The Art Fund, the UK’s leading independent art charity, £35,000 from the Museums and Art Galleries Improvements Fund, £35,000 from the V&A Purchase Grant Fund, The Headley Trust, Renaissance East Midlands (http://www.mla.gov.uk/what/programmes/renaissance/regions/east_midlands) and local contributions from the Friends of Leicester and Leicestershire Museums, the Leicestershire Museums Archaeological Fieldwork Group and the County Council, as well as private individuals. The support of Harborough District Council is also gratefully acknowledged.

The Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) enables communities to celebrate, look after and learn more about our diverse heritage. From our great museums and historic buildings to local parks and beauty spots or recording and celebrating traditions, customs and history, HLF grants open up our nation’s heritage for everyone to enjoy. Since its conception, HLF has supported 26,000 projects allocating over £4 billion across the UK.

The Art Fund is the national charity for art, helping UK museums and galleries to buy, show and share art. Over the past 5 years, the Art Fund has given £24 million to buy art and supported a range of projects and programmes aimed at helping more people enjoy art. It is independently funded by 85,000 supporters who purchase a National Art Pass, costing from just £37.50, which gives free entry to over 200 museums, galleries and historic houses across the country as well as 50% off major exhibitions.

The V&A Purchase Grant Fund is a government fund, established at the Victoria & Albert Museum (V&A) in 1881 as part of its nationwide work. The annual grants budget, currently £600,000. The Fund supports the acquisition of objects relating to the arts, literature, and history by regional museums, record offices and specialist libraries in England and Wales. Each year it considers some 250 applications and awards grants to around100 organisations, enabling acquisitions of over £4million to go ahead.

The Headley Museums Archaeological Acquisition Fund has been established by the Headley Trust, one of the Sainsbury Family Charitable Trusts. Its trustees realise the great difficulties many regional and local museums find in raising the money to buy archaeological artefacts. They are also aware of the proliferation of finds as a consequence of the success of the Portable Antiquities Scheme. The Headley initiative is intended to help museums secure and display notable finds. The Headley Scheme runs alongside and in collaboration with the MLA/V&A Purchase Grant Fund. Visit the website at www.headley-archaeology.org.uk

The Portable Antiquities Scheme (PAS) is a voluntary scheme (managed by the British Museum) to record archaeological objects (not necessarily Treasure) found by members of the public in England and Wales. Every year many thousands of objects are discovered, many of these by metal-detector users, but also by people whilst out walking, gardening or going about their daily work. Such discoveries offer an important source for understanding our past. More information can be found on www.finds.org.uk

All finders of gold and silver objects, groups of coins from the same find, over 300 years old, have a legal obligation to report such items under the Treasure Act 1996. Prehistoric base-metal assemblages found after 1 January 2003 also qualify as Treasure. Potential Treasure finds must be reported by law to the local coroner, which is normally done through the finders’ local PAS Finds Liaison Officer. If declared Treasure, they may be acquired by a museum at their full market value (normally split 50/50 between finder and landowner), valued by the Treasure Valuation Committee, which is an independent committee of expert. The Treasure Process is administered by the British Museum. More information is available on www.culture.gov.uk or www.finds.org.uk

Further details about the Treasure Project:

For more information about Harborough Museum and the Southeast Leicestershire Treasure Project, please contact pressoffice@leics.gov.uk